This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

For 19-year-old Innisfil native Matthew Di Leo, financing his auto racing career means teaming with a consultant who helps him hustle sponsorship dollars for his team, MDL Racing.

Toronto’s Zack Meyer, meanwhile, figures winning will be sufficient. If he can claim a few races before the end of the summer he’ll collect bigger purses while reeling in sponsors hoping to align themselves with a winner.

The two Canadians currently race on the 12-race Indy Lights circuit, which functions as the triple-A to Indy Car’s major leagues, and both competed raced here Sunday as part of the Honda Toronto Indy event. And for Di Leo and the 21-year-old Meyer, racing Indy Lights isn’t just about mastering the craft of auto racing. It’s also a chance to learn hard lessons about the business of racing cars.

Experts say operating a team for an entire Indy Lights season can cost more than $750,000. Last year Di Leo’s family bought a near-bankrupt team for $200,000 then spent another $200,000 running an abbreviated, five-race season. This year Di Leo is races go-karts full time and is contesting just one Indy Lights event –Toronto, because it’s the most cost-effective.

“In Toronto you can justify having people spend money on your race team when they can see the signage on your car, come down (to the race) and enjoy a day in the life of a race car driver,” says Di Leo, who finished sixth on Sunday. “It’s harder (on) the circuit because after you’re done the race you have to go and find a sponsor to run the next race.”

Di Leo says running Sunday’s race cost his team $35,000, whereas a race in the U.S. would have cost about $50,000.

And the price of racing Indy Lights is about to rise.

All teams on the circuit compete using the same chassis and engine, and next year both components will receive their first upgrade since 2002.

The new rides aren’t cheap. Teams can buy the new Dallara chassis for $232,000 (U.S.) or work out a lease agreement with the manufacturer, then lease the engine for an additional $88,000 per season.

And if you’re paying in Canadian dollars those costs add up even faster.

“You have to dump a lot of money into the budget to be competitive,” says Andy Bradley, president of the Global Sponsorship Network and a consultant with Di Leo’s team. “Now that our Canadian dollar is almost at par we don’t need as big a number as we did 10, 15 years ago.”

Of course, on-track success helps drivers defray costs -- the winner of this season’s championship will receive a $1 million bonus from series sponsor Mazda.

But in a sport where drivers routinely pay teams for the opportunity to drive, the winner doesn’t just pocket the cash. Instead it comes in the form of a sponsorship the Indy Lights champion then uses to secure a spot with an Indy team.

On the Indy circuit, drivers say, opportunities to make real money will materialize, but getting there will incur the kinds of costs only a major sponsor can cover.

“Trying to find sponsors is really hard, especially since I’ve only been racing limited amount of time,” says Meyer, who finished 10th Sunday. “I’m working on it slowly but surely, and hopefully soon I can have some other sponsors aside from my mom. Right now I owe her quite a bit of money. This is the make it or break it year.”

Bradley and Di Leo’s sponsorship strategy involves two major components: showing racing-friendly companies how to save money, then getting them to devote some of the extra cash to sponsoring Di Leo’s team.

In Toronto Di Leo’s car bore the logo of Solmar, a Concord-based condo developer, which sponsored the team after Bradley’s analysis showed the company could save money on heating costs at its office.

“It’s a win-win,” Bradley says. “If we can help companies become more efficient and get the advertising on Matthew’s car, that’s a positive.”

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com